New York City subway performers denounce police crackdown

Subway artists and police brutality activists held a news conference at City Hall on Aug. 12 to protest the racist crackdown by the New York Police Department against performers in the mass transit system.

According to media reports in early July, arrests of subway performers have increased by 500 percent under Commissioner William Bratton, from 40 arrests in 2013 to 240 so far this year.

Matthew Christian of the performer advocacy group Busk NY explained that the NYPD ignores official MTA rules of conduct when they harass artists performing on subway platforms and mezzanines. He offered copies of the rules to journalists to see for themselves.

Andrew “Goofy” Saunders of the W.A.F.F.L.E. NY dance collective spoke out about how he was unjustly arrested and jailed. “We just want to dance,” he said. “The NYPD has repeatedly gone beyond the provisions of the MTA’s rules of conduct by charging train dancers — often young Black or Latino males — with misdemeanor reckless endangerment, even when no injuries have been demonstrated during decades of performances,” asserted Josmar Trujillo of New Yorkers Against Bratton.

Greg Butterfield

Share
Published by
Greg Butterfield

Recent Posts

Students in France hold militant protests

“To confront repression, class unity” was written on the banner that some high school students…

October 9, 2026

Nolan Wells and a reactionary justice system

On Sept. 21 a grand jury in Mississippi made its decision in the death of…

October 9, 2026

‘Big Beautiful Bill’ – a war on workers

Over 100 activists rallied outside Philadelphia City Hall on Oct. 2 to oppose the reckless…

October 9, 2026

Snippets from IRGC’s ‘Open Letter to American People’

Below are excerpts from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ open letter to people in the…

October 9, 2026

A conversation with Che

This article, describing a “Conversation with Che Guevara,” was written in 1967 by Vince Copeland,…

October 8, 2026

Pa. Supreme Court to consider sentencing relief for Jerome Coffey

In March 2026, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling in Commonwealth v. Derek Lee struck down…

October 8, 2026